Perspectives on where our world is heading from a vantage point in Denver, Colorado.

19 January 2006

Missile Defense Status Report

Great expense has not produced much success in the area of national missile defense, which the adminstration is now scaling back:

The government has spent about $100 billion on missile defense since 1983, including $7.8 billion authorized for the current fiscal year. Interceptors, however, have failed five times in 11 tests - even though some critics of the program say the tests have been practically rigged to succeed.

Officials with the Pentagon's Missile Defense Agency said its director, Air Force Lt. Gen. Henry Obering, decided to step back on the advice of two independent panels, which scrutinized the program after test failures in 2004 and 2005 in which the interceptors did not even make it out of their silos.

The Navy, using systems based on its Aegis fire control system (originally designed to stop cruise missiles and the other threats to surface war ships), has been rather more successful. In part because of that edge, the Navy is now repackaging its pitch for a next generation "cruiser", the largest war ship in its existing fleet, since at least March, selling it as a missile defense cruiser.

1 comment:

Wow, this whole affair is getting really embarassing. The airforce used to be so good about not investing in something that isn't well proven to work; too bad they're listening to Bush when they should be listening to their science advisors.